First Love | James Hetfield

Eight O'Clock Showing

1984

Cancer?

Annie felt her heart plummet to her toes. She was confused. Confused on how she felt— how she should feel. Should she be sad? Happy? Relieved that he won't be in her life anymore?

She hung her head low and let her tears fall freely as she walked. Scoffing quietly at herself, she felt foolish, remembering all the huge plans she had made just thirty minutes before her father dropped that bomb on her. How was she going to do any of that now? She didn't know if it would be wrong to go through with the European tour, but she also knew Alan didn't deserve her sympathy.

"Funny seein' you here!" a voice broke her out of her thoughts.

She looked up to see James' award winning grin as he strolled over to her, his hair softly bouncing with his steps.

Yeah, definitely going on tour... she thought. There was no way she could be without that view for two whole months.

"Hey, you okay?" he expression softened a bit as he approached her, noticing her red eyes.

She nodded as he began walking beside her, placing his hand on the small of her back.

She felt his thumb rub her back softly as she cleared her throat, inhaling deeply.

"My dad found... yet another way to fuck me over." she joked, chuckling quietly. She felt his hand on her back tighten a bit. "What'd he do?" his tone was harsher now.

She looked over at him. "Got cancer." she murmured.

James felt his heart shatter on the ground right then and there. Abruptly, he came to a stop, fully facing her. He knew exactly how she felt. Confused and scared— just as he felt when he was fifteen years old. But he also knew a part of her thought it was good news that her dad would finally go away forever. As he looked down at her, he didn't know what the hell to say.

She noticed the confusion written all over his face. "It's a good thing." she nodded with a tight smile. It was as if she was reassuring herself more than him.

She continued walking. "So I was thinking... maybe I will tag along for the tour. There might be a little delay due to my father catching a deadly, incurable disease, but I'm sure I can make it." she nodded, sending a smile his way.

"Um..." he struggled to find words. "Yeah. Yeah, sounds good." he nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Their walk was silent for a few minutes before James spoke up again. "Uh, I was actually walking to the diner to see if you wanted to go out tonight. Maybe catch the eight o'clock showing? Kirk said Ghostbusters will be on." he suggested. "But, y'know, you might not wanna..." he trailed off.

"No, it's fine." she shook her head, then nodded. "Yeah, that'd be cool. Get my mind off it." she dropped the i-don't-give-a-fuck act, smiling sadly at him.

He bit back a smile. "Cool, cool." he nodded casually, although his tinted cheeks were anything but casual.

~

"Do they have beer?"

James was too busy admiring the way the red and purple lights shone on her side profile to realize she had asked a question.

"Um, I don't know." the corners of his lips curved downwards as he scanned his eyes across the menu above the counter.

"Yeah, we got beer. Would you like to try a movie-themed mixed drink?" the man behind the counter was less than thrilled to be working late on a Friday.

"Uh," Annie chuckled softly, "no, just whatever beer you have, and a pretzel." she looked over at James, asking if he wanted anything. He shook his head, pulling out a few bucks from his wallet and handing them over to the man before she could protest.

After getting Annie's snacks — that James was determined to steal from her during the movie, they walked down the quiet hallway to their respectful theater, where the commercials had finished just in time for them to find their seats.

If there's something strange...

In your neighborhood...

Annie had fallen asleep a little more than halfway through the movie, slumped in her seat with her almost untouched pretzel resting on her stomach.

By the end of the movie, Annie was out cold and James' eyes had closed just as the lights came back on, and the credits began rolling. He groaned, standing up and stretching his arms before looking over at the sleeping girl beside him. He felt a smile tug at his lips to see her sleep so peacefully, almost tempted to stay and just let her sleep through the rest of the showings. It'd been a while since he saw her fall asleep so relaxed. There she was, without any stress about her job or her dad, just there.

Annie felt a familiar warmth envelope her body, then the feeling of his soft lips on her cheek as she stirred awake. He left a trail off kisses to the corner of her mouth until she reciprocated, and looped her arms around his neck lazily. By now, the theater was clearing out, and he was getting deja vu from the day at the airport when she was sleeping in the chair. He wondered if maybe she was happier then. When they were just friends.

"Come on." he spoke softly, pulling away from her and trying not to gag at the glob of nacho cheese that had gotten on his jacket from her pretzel.

"Is the movie over?" she finally stood up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Yeah, it's over. Let's get outta here." he led her out of the theater just as an employee came in to clean up, offering the two a polite smile despite their weird appearances with their cheese doused shirts and drooping eyes.

GOD I HATE THIS CHAPTER. Didn't really know where to end it so I just went with that part. This is such a lame filler, I'm sorry. I just wanted to add more james X Annie moments (jannie? Yes. YES. Jannie. Official ship name.) before everything turns rotten and bad >:) yeah prepare urselves. Love you, and thanks for being patient!

Also a HUGE thank you for 20K READS HOLY SHIT.

keep reading if you want, or dont.. but Im worried that James is super out of character in this. If he is, I'm sorry.. my fictional version of him is just a goofball with a side of romantic cause im so deprived of romance in my life. Yeah. Anyway...

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